


Can't Help Falling Into You

by literaryoblivion



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, College Student Stiles, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, Pie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5556893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryoblivion/pseuds/literaryoblivion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles helps his dad out by putting up Christmas lights on the house, but gets a bit lazy and takes a few short cuts with the ladder. He loses his balance and falls on top of someone that was delivering something to his house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Help Falling Into You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bellakitse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellakitse/gifts).



> This was a secret santa fic for bellakitse. The tumblr post for it is [here](http://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/135868678583/merry-christmas-bellakitse).
> 
> This was from a prompt on [THIS LIST](http://platonicallyhomo.tumblr.com/post/134144175887), specifically: “’I just wanted to put Christmas lights up but I ended up falling off the ladder and crashing into you while you were delivering a package to my door but oh god you’re hot’ AU.” It’s fluffy, and an AU in which the Hales are alive and there’s no fire/supernatural things.

In an attempt to prevent his dad from falling and killing himself, or at least breaking a bone, Stiles had made his dad vow not to put up any of the outside Christmas decorations. 

“I will put them up when I get home from school,” he had told his dad, and really, the Sheriff was all for Stiles doing it because it meant less work for him, so he didn’t put up a fight.

In fact he hadn’t put up _any_ Christmas decorations. 

“I knew you’d be upset if you didn’t get to help. I know how much you love doing it,” his dad had said. 

“Uh huh, or you just didn’t want to do it,” Stiles had replied, to which the Sheriff only grinned. 

And really it’s fine. Stiles actually does like putting up the decor. It makes him think of his mom, actually, and he’s finally to the point where it doesn’t make him upset and hurt to do so. He still feels the pang of loss and sadness, something he doesn’t think will ever go away, but for the most part it’s a good, happy feeling to pull everything from the attic down.

His dad is at work, and Scott is still finishing his finals, so Stiles has nothing better to do but to start putting things up. The inside decor he leaves for when his dad comes home; it’s something they do together--putting up and decorating the tree. But the outside lights he can do.

He grabs the ladder from the garage and checks that he has everything else, clips, lights, extension cord, before he gets started. The weather is perfect, cool enough for a long-sleeved shirt with the sun shining and cutting through the few clouds in the sky. 

Stiles turns the music up on his phone and sets it aside on the ground before climbing up the ladder to start hanging the lights. With the ladder being the way it is and how he has the lights, he can only clip in two or three before he has to climb down the ladder and move it further along the roof’s edge.

It’s okay at first, but after the fourth time having to climb down, move the ladder, and climb back up again, Stiles is getting tired. Which only means trouble because he starts seeing how far he can reach before he absolutely has to move the ladder. It’s _so_ not safe, and his dad would probably kill him, but he’s young and has long arms and he’s totally got this.

At the moment, he’s got one foot and one hand on the ladder, the other hand reaching with a clip while the other foot is off the ladder helping him balance. Sort of. 

It’s while he’s in this precarious position that he notices someone below him out of the corner of his eye, which makes him startle. Suddenly, he is losing that balance and quickly meeting this person and not in a way he would like.

He lets out a yell as he falls, which is the only warning he gives the stranger below him before he lands on top of them and they crash into a heap on the lawn. 

“Oh, shit, oh my god. I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Stiles blurts out. Lucky for him the guy cushioned his fall so _he’s_ unhurt, but the guy landed on the not-so-soft ground with Stiles on top of him.

“Well, I don’t think anything’s broken?” the guy says, and if Stiles weren’t so worried he injured the guy, he’d smile at the comment.

As it is, he tries to lift himself up and scramble off of him and ends up elbowing him in the stomach as he does. The guy groans, and Stiles apologises profusely again.

“God, I’m terrible. I’m sorry. Again. I can get you some ice, or?” He finally is up and off of the guy, and he puts out a hand to help him up. The guy accepts and stands. Once they are finally facing each other, Stiles gets a better look at him, and fuck is the guy hot, dark hair, stubble, muscles, amazing eyes. Stiles is in trouble.

“It’s fine,” the guy says and brushes the back of his pants and turns a little to see if he got all of the grass off, and yes, Stiles looks as well because he’s being helpful (also the guy’s ass looks incredible in his tight jeans). “I might get a bruise where you elbowed me, but other than that…” 

The man’s voice has a teasing tone to it, but Stiles groans and buries his face in his hands in embarrassment.

“I am so sorry. Let me get you some ice or a drink or something? Anything?” Stiles says, not entirely in the hopes to get the guy to come inside and get to know him better, but mostly.

“I’ll be okay, really. Don’t worry about it.” He says it with a small smile, and Stiles nods because he knows when he’s being let down gently. He doesn’t want to push the guy. He’s not sure he wouldn’t do the same thing and try to get away from the guy who fell on him.

“Uh, okay. Thanks for, uh, breaking my fall. What, um, why were you conveniently here to catch me anyway?”

The man chuckles and points to the box that’s a few feet away from them. “I was delivering that. Although, I doubt it survived the impact.” 

Upon closer inspection, the lid is dented, and there’s something gooey leaking from one of the sides into the grass. 

“Oh, geez.” Stiles thinks about offering to pay for it or something, but before he can offer, the guy shrugs.

“I’m sure my mom can make another one.” At Stiles’s confused look, he adds, “It’s a pie. For the Sheriff. And his son… which I’m guessing is you?”

Stiles nods. “Stiles,” he says with a little wave. 

“Derek,” the man replies, offering his hand for Stiles to shake.

“And your mom is?” Stiles asks after shaking Derek’s hand and not at all feeling a rush of heat as he does. 

“Talia Hale. The district--”

“Attorney,” Stiles finishes. “Right. My dad lives for her pies every year. It’s the only dessert I let him eat most of,” he says with a chuckle.

“My mom usually makes a few extras for us, but I’ll text her and see if she can spare one. Sorry about that.” Derek gestures to the slightly smashed box on the ground. 

“Dude, that was totally my fault. I, uh, should have been more careful.”

“What exactly were you trying to do? Fly?” Derek has one eyebrow lifted and slight smirk playing on his lips.

“I was trying to put up the Christmas lights, thank you very much. I, uh, was trying to reach, and well, you know.”

Derek nods. “Do you want help?”

For a moment Stiles stares a little wide-eyed at Derek. He thought for sure Derek would want to high-tail it out of there as soon as he could. But no, he’s still talking to Stiles and even volunteering to help him, which will inevitably mean he will spend more time talking to him. He should probably tell Derek yes, even though a small part of him is prideful enough to say no because he wants to do this by himself. 

“Uh, sure. I don’t have much more to go, so it shouldn’t take too long?” 

“I can do the rest if you want to hold the ladder?” Derek offers, and well… Stiles is not going to turn down the opportunity to stare up at Derek’s ass as he climbs up a ladder and stretches to clip on lights.

“Are you sure? You don’t have to?” Stiles asks, mainly as a pretense to be polite more than anything. He’s perfectly okay with Derek finishing the work for him, for reasons stated previously. 

“I’d feel better that way. I don’t want you falling on me again.”

“Oh ha ha. Very funny.”

Derek gives him a smug grin and then steps up to the ladder to move it slightly over before ascended to take up where Stiles left off. Stiles does his due diligence and holds the ladder steady and unashamedly stares up at Derek. He tries to act like he’s not when Derek starts climbing back down before moving the ladder again. After the third time though, he’s pretty sure Derek knows he’s been staring at him because he catches a blush on Derek’s cheeks.

Luckily (for Derek, unluckily for Stiles)  it only takes a few more times up and down the ladder before Derek finishes putting up the rest of the lights.

“Uh, thanks, again for… everything,” Stiles says, steadily watching the ground as Derek climbs down the ladder. He still has a hand on it, as promised. When Derek takes the final step down, he and Stiles are standing incredibly close to one another.

“You’re welcome.” He gives Stiles a small smile, and damn it, it kind of makes his heart flutter. Derek pulls out his phone from his pocket, and after checking it he says, “My mom says she has an extra ready. I’ll go get it and bring it back. Will you be home still?”

“Yeah, I’ll be here. Not going anywhere.”

“Great. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes or so.” And then just as suddenly as he appeared, Derek is gone, getting into a black camaro parked across the street and driving away.

He tries to not let the disappointment at seeing Derek leave get to him because he _knows_ Derek is coming right back, but still. He busies himself with putting away the boxes the lights were in and makes sure the timer is plugged in and the lights are plugged into it. It’s still too bright out to really see how the lights look, but he thinks he and Derek did a pretty good job. He grabs the ruined pie to toss it and heads into the house.

Once inside, he tries to straighten out the living room because if he can, he hopes to at least get Derek to come in and stay long enough for a conversation and maybe if he has enough courage, for Stiles to ask him out.

It’s when he’s shoving the rest of the Christmas decorations into a corner (the corner for the tree actually), that there’s a knock on the door. Derek is on the other side, a white box like last time in his hand, and if Stiles is not mistaken, Derek’s hair looks a little different? Like he put gel in it? In fact, when Stiles gestures with a wave for Derek to come in, he gets a whiff of not only apple pie but some kind of cologne.  Oh god, did Derek clean up a little before he came back?

Stiles bites back a smile at the thought and tries to convince himself that can’t possibly be it.

“Uh, here’s the pie,” Derek says, holding out the box in front of him.

“Thanks.” Stiles takes it and starts walking toward the kitchen. “Want a drink or something?”

“Sure.” Derek follows him and takes a seat on one of the barstools by the counter and watches Stiles as he grabs a glass from the cupboard and fills it with ice.

“Water okay? I don’t think we have any more soda--”

“Water’s fine.”

Stiles nods, fills up the glass, and sets it on the counter in front of Derek. They both stare at the glass for a moment before Derek pulls it towards him but doesn’t take a sip.

“So, I was wondering…” Derek starts, and Stiles perks up, leaning forward on the counter. 

“Yeah?”

“Do you, um… do you go with your dad to the Policemen’s Holiday Ball?”

It seems like a bit of a random question, and Stiles doesn’t quite hide the confusion on his face. The ball is a tradition--a fundraiser and holiday party of sorts--and his dad is kind of required to go, which means Stiles is too. It’s that Saturday, and Stiles already has his suit picked out and has games downloaded on his phone to pass the time while his dad does his duty.  “Usually. Why?” 

“Well, I… see, my mom’s invited too and she wants me to go, but I was thinking maybe, if you wanted to, maybe you and I could go? Together?”

It all comes out in a bit of a rush, and it takes a second for Stiles to understand what Derek’s asking. “Like a date?”

Derek’s cheeks blush and he ducks his head. “I mean, yeah? If you don’t want to though, that’s okay. I mean I guess, I’ll just see you there, and--”

Stiles stops him by putting his hand on Derek’s. “I’d love to go with you. On a date. To the ball.”

The smile Derek has is blinding, and it makes Stiles fall for him that much more.

“Great. I’ll pick you up? At seven?”

“Perfect.” 

Derek grins again and stands from his seat. “I better get going. My mom gave me a few more pies to deliver.”

“Try not to let anyone else fall on you,” Stiles says as he walks Derek to the door.

Derek chuckles and shakes his head. “Only you.”

It’s a meaningless, joking phrase, but for some reason it makes Stiles’s heart clench. “So, I’ll see you on Saturday?”

“At seven,” Derek says with a wave before walking out the door to his car.

Stiles watches him drive away before shutting the door to lean back against it. He didn’t even have to get up the nerve to ask Derek out, and now he has a date to something he was partially dreading as he thought it was going to be a huge boring waste of time. Now he’s looking forward to it because it means he’ll see and be with Derek again. He’s not sure how things will play out, but he kind of hopes there’ll be mistletoe hanging around as part of the decoration so he can push Derek under it so he can kiss him.

~

There is mistletoe. He does kiss Derek. And it’s Derek who pushes him under it. And they maybe kiss without the excuse of mistletoe too. It’s the best ball Stiles’s has been to yet.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [my tumblr](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com) or [my twitter](http://twitter.com/lit_oblivion).


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